Medieval Adultery in the Movies (with Kat Tracey)

This is the final episode--sort of*--of a multi-part series about medieval adultery in literature, history, and popular culture. My co-host Professor Larissa 'Kat' Tracey and I review how adultery has been dealt with in movies about the Middle Ages. We begin with three Hollywood medieval epics, "The Kingdom of Heaven," "Braveheart," and "The Last Duel," and then turn to the focus of our previous episodes, movies about Lancelot and Guinevere and Tristan and Iseult.

*I will be posting a short episode on the film adaptation of Sigrid Undset's Nobel Prize winning novel Kristin Lavransdatter. That really will be our last word on medieval adultery.


This episode includes sound clips  from the following movies:

"Kingdom of Heaven" (2006), dir. Ridley Scott: Baldwin IV offers Balian command of the armies of Jerusalem and marriage to his sister (unfortunately the recording is not the best quality)

"The Last Duel" (2021), dir. Ridley Scott: musical score (comp: Harry Gregson Williams)

"Knights of the Round Table" (1953), dir. Richard Thorpe: musical score (comp: Miklós Rózsa)

"Excalibur" (1982), dir. John Boorman: musical score (Predlude to the Liebestod, from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde)

"Lovespell (1981), dir. Tom Donovon: musical score (comp. Paddy Moloney)


Works consulted:
Susan Aronstein, Hollywood Knights: Arthurian Cinema and the Politics of Nostalgia . Palgrave, 2005.

Virginia Blanton, Martha M. Johnson-Olin, and Charlene Miller Avrich, eds., Medieval Women in Film: An Annotated Handlist and Reference Guide. Medieval Feminist Forum
Subsidia Series, 2014.

Kevin J. Harty, ed., Cinema Arthuriana.  McFarland, 2002.

Kevin J. Harty, ed., Medieval Women on Film. McFarland, 2020.

Bert Olton, Arthurian Legends on Film and Television. McFarland, 2000.

Listen on Podurama https://podurama.com

Intro and exit music are by Alexander Nakarada

If you have questions, feel free to contact me at richard.abels54@gmail.com